During the medieval period, as today, no clear distinction was
drawn in popular thinking between private property as a set of
rights and claims over wealth, and wealth itself. In the civilized
world of ancient times private property in both movables and immovables was so well established as to be an institution. The
barbarians, however, are said to have had a clearer conception of
private property in movables such as cattle than in land. The institution of private property in both commodities and land was
nevertheless steadily extended still further over Europe during the
course of the Middle Ages, its various forms meanwhile undergoing
some change. There was a shift from ownership of slaves to rights
to the services of serfs; allodial tenures were displaced by feudal
holdings; benefices were supplanted by fiefs; and the right to
revenues from tolls and taxes was frequently bought or sold as
private property.

1. Tangibles and Intangibles

The Romans had a highly developed sense of private property. They
distinguished between tangibles, e.g., lands and slaves, and intangibles,
e.g., rights and privileges, and they also drew a distinction between ownership, or private property, and the usufruct of that which was owned.
The communal idea of property was more common after the barbarian
invasions.

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